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The results of the 2017 NHS Staff Survey have been released by NHS England today.

487,227 NHS staff took part in the survey which equates to a response rate of 45 per cent and makes it the largest employee opinion survey in the world.
The results are challenging and show a service under strain. Staff report that they are working under more pressure and feel less able to deliver a good quality service. They feel less enthusiastic about their jobs and more dissatisfied with their pay. Across a range of indicators they report worse experience than in 2016 although scores are still higher than in 2014.  Some progress has been made in areas such as increased support from managers and more confidence that the organisation takes action on health and wellbeing. 
NHS Employers will be reviewing the results and developing its work programmes to support employers to take action on the issues raised. You can find our initial analysis on our web page.
In the face of unprecedented pressures many NHS organisations have continued to make progress. However, the results raise issues over workload, staffing and expectations of the NHS. There is also a continuing need to improve people management and provide support in areas such as health and wellbeing and staff engagement. NHS Employers is calling for urgent action to ensure the NHS can meet rising demands without placing unsustainable strain on staff. 
NHS Employers chief executive Danny Mortimer said: “Employers in the NHS have been anticipating worsening results from this most recent survey and sadly their concerns have been reflected in the outcome. 
“The country needs to take these challenging results seriously. We cannot expect staff to absorb additional work pressures year on year without it having an adverse effect on their experience of work.  A long-term solution to sustainable investment in the NHS – and other vital public services – is clearly required."
We will be sharing learning from those organisations that have seen progress at our Staff Survey event and in a forthcoming webinar. More information to follow in near future.
Full results on all questions and key findings and a detailed analysis of five year trends can be found on the NHS Staff Survey website

*Credits: NHS Employers

NHS England has published a new report looking into the links between levels of engagement in trusts, their sickness absence and increased spending on agency spend.
Employee engagement, sickness absence and agency spend reveals a clear connection between those organisations with higher levels of staff engagement and lower sickness absence rates. These trusts generally also have a lower spends on bank and agency spend.
NHS England commissioned the King’s Fund to produce the report which was written by Prof Mike West of the King's Fund and Prof Jeremy Dawson of University of Sheffield.
The independent research linked trust data from 2016/17 (and, for some measures, for the previous year), the NHS Staff Survey (employee engagement), NHS Digital (sickness absence), and NHS Improvement (agency and bank staff spend). Sickness absence rates vary more than two fold between NHS trusts, and there are also large variations in trusts’ staff engagement scores.
For more information, please take a look at the full report